


The Moon and the Lake

by Runespoor



Category: Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fairy Tale Style, Gen, Mythology - Freeform, Verdane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-21
Updated: 2015-10-21
Packaged: 2018-04-27 10:27:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5044774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runespoor/pseuds/Runespoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Verdanese tale: how the moon and the lake fell in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Moon and the Lake

**Author's Note:**

> With thanks to Etrangere for the beta.

When the world was dark and young, back before the crusaders and before even the kings, every night the moon came to look at herself in the lake’s mirror. For the whole night she admired herself; kept an eye on the lake as she went about her moon business. She’d guide seafarers, send dreams to children, smile or frown upon shamans’ curses. She’d shine for everyone, and for herself. And every night when the blue skies would turn to pink and gray with her sister’s first rays, she’d take one last look at the lake, pale and haggard, and retreat to sleep.

Now the lake had come to love her.

“Every night she rises and casts her glow for the whole world, and every morning she has grown so worn with her efforts that when her sister runs warm fingers across her face to smooth away the weariness, she vanishes without being able to return the greeting. I have seen how hard she works and how much she cares. She’s not blinding, like her sister sun,” for the sun shines too bright to see herself into a lake or care about a mirror, “but hers is the true beauty of the night.”

He was sorry to see her so drawn come every dawn, and in order to please her and make her duty lighter, he too worked all night to give her the most perfect mirror one could find.

The moon so delighted when she went to stare at herself, she leaned forward too much and fell from the sky and into the lake. (Some people say she fell willingly, trying to kiss the lake.)

The next night, there was no light in the skies, and fishermen couldn’t go to the sea, and for the day the people had no food. The second night, the hungry children couldn’t sleep, and for the whole night they wept. The third night, desperate shamans cast supplicatory spells to beg the moon to return to the sky, but the spells fizzled out and did nothing, for there was no new magic into the world.

On the fourth night, a woman came to the lake. She was tired and pale like the moon at dawn, but her hair was dark as the night sky.

She looked into the lake, and from the lake she could see the moon shining! …but when she looked up, the sky was as empty as an empty mouth.

She put her hands around her mouth, and called, “lake, o lake, answer my call.”

“What is it, woman?”

She pointed at the moon through the water. “Why do you hold the moon? Is she your prisoner?”

“No; she is my beloved guest. For three days she has rested and we have rejoiced in each other’s company.”

“Then when she is rested, you will let her return to the skies? All the people need her and our land is dying.”

“No; for we are sworn to one another and it is our wish to stay together for all times.”

The woman saw she wouldn’t get through to him, so she thought, and concluded: “Well, the moon will need a maidservant. All due respect, you’re not a very good host.”

The lake thought of protesting, but the woman’s face reminded him of the fisherwomen that sometimes got lost in his waters and drowned, and found he couldn’t.

Still, he hesitated. “Are you a maid by trade?”

“No,” the woman said truthfully, “but I’m the one who came to you and I’m a hard worker.”

“That is true,” the lake reflected. “Very well; I will take you to my palace, and let the moon decide for herself.”

So under the lake’s protection, the woman could breathe water like air, and in the lake’s underwater castle she was brought.

There she met the rising moon, whose face was full with rest and glowing with joy. The woman knelt, and spoke.

“Moon, mistress of the seas and dreams and magic, I have come to beg of you, return to the sky. We are without food for the ships will not sail, and the children cry for they find no sleep, and for the magic, it is gone with you, and so our prayers are lost.”

Hearing her, the moon was troubled. “My beloved, is it true?” she asked of the lake.

“No,” he said. “They’re fine. My fish are plentiful and your sister’s rays ripen their fruits. They lack for nothing, and still they want you to wear yourself out! These selfish creatures would see you wane and think of nothing but themselves. And this one,” he said, pointing at the woman, “she has spouted lies and abused my trust. Let her drown for her insolence!”

“Moon, I did not deceive,” the woman pled, raising her hands, “I ask only that you see for yourself. Just a moment; just so you’ll know for certain.”

“I will,” the moon said, who some people say was growing weary of rest and who maybe was missing the people’s prayers reaching her through the skies.

She emerged from the lake, and as soon as she’d returned to the sky she saw the woman had been saying the truth, and she burst into tears.

“Oh, beloved, you were mistaken. Your water distorts light and so it distorted truth; and I’m in sorrow for I have to return to the sky, and yet I want to stay with you.”

And the lake was silent and grieved, and in his troubled waters the moon’s reflection had grown unclear.

“Take hope, my lady,” said the woman. “Look around!”

The moon took her hands away from her eyes. All around her, her tears shone brightly where they’d fallen on the night sky.

“We can’t survive without you for long,” the woman continued, “but when you’ve grown tired and long for your beloved, these lights will keep us hopeful until you return.”

And the moon cried again, with joy, and new constellations were born.

“Every month I’ll return to you,” she promised the lake, “and for three nights I will be with you and shine just for us; and the rest of the time I will be in the sky, as is my duty.”

“Every month I will wait for you, and make my waters the clearest, that you might see yourself faithfully reflected,” the lake promised back. “As for you, clever, truthful woman: may you stay in my castle, and watch over my treasures and my honesty.”

Thus the stars were born, and peace and magic returned to the world.

As for the truthful woman, some people say she’s still the moon’s maid when her mistress rests in the lake, and sometimes when the moon is up in the sky, she’ll appear to the people fishing by the lake to test their valor of their truthfulness.


End file.
